The chairman and board members of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission have refused to vacate office in defiance of President Muhammadu Buhari directive dissolving the boards of all federal agencies, institutions and government owned companies.
Our correspondent report that findings indicate the erstwhile Chairman of the board, Chief Richard Egbule in complicity with two other board members, Amb. Madaki Bage and Alhaji Abdulahi Ibrahim are still occupying their post in spite of the presidential directive dissolving all boards effective July 16, 2015.
Instead of vacating their seats as directed by the president, these three men have constituted themselves into a cabal to solicit and lobby high ranking government officials to get an exemption and remain in office, an action which negates the change mantra of the current administration.
In spite of the chairman and members of the board being in possession of the circular by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Danladi Kifasi dated July 16, notifying them of the dissolution of all boards, the trio are bent on illegally perpetuating themselves in office.
Also, Chief Egbule has refused to hand over the affairs of the commission to the permanent secretary of the supervising ministry or government office as directed by a circular issued by Mohammed Bukar dated July 23.
In the said circular, Bukar, who is the permanent secretary (general services office) in the office of the head of service said”l am to particularly draw your attention to paragraph 3 of the circular which directed that until such a time new boards are constituted, the chief executive officers of the parastatals and agencies are to refer matters requiring the attention of their boards to the permanent secretaries of their respective supervising ministries or offices for action.
“Accordingly, you are to refer all matters requiring the attention of the governing board of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission to the permanent secretary (general services office) for consideration.”
The circular was sent to Chief Egbule as chairman of the commission and was attached to main circular issued by the head of service in the wake of the dissolution of all boards by the president.
A source within the commission on condition of anonymity said “the status of the chairman and other members of the board of the commission in respect to the newly issued circular approving the dissolution of boards of federal government companies, institutions and government owned companies is very clear since they are all political appointees of the last administration”.
Buhari is a pathetic man, a former military head of state who in spite of his age, experience and exposure over the years in addition to the heavy criticism he has previously received on account of his dictatorial rigidity and parochialism from no less a person than the Nobel laureate professor Wole Soyinka and other eminent Nigerians has refused to learn any lessons and better adapt to the challenges of leadership in a democracy and diverse nation. But none of these in reality should come as a surprise. At the best of times, Buhari has never proven himself to be someone who has any respect for the Nigerian constitution nor any regard for Nigeria’s diversity. It should be recalled that in 2001 Buhari infamously supported the introduction of Sharia in blatant violation of Nigeria’s secular constitution leading to the deaths of some 20,000 people in the riots that ensued.
While the Oputa panel was constituted as a mechanism for redress and reconciliation during Obasanjo’s administration in 2000, Buhari refused to appear before the panel to contribute to the process of reconciliation. In 2011 after losing in an election adjudged by all to be free and fair, Buhari again refused to admit his loss and incited riots that caused more than 1000 deaths. There was thus nothing in Buhari’s persona up to the recent elections that suggested any change in his outlook. There is no normal clime where such an individual who has demonstrated so much disrespect for the constitution and who has so much blood in his hands would even stand for elections. Ours being an abnormal clime, he was manipulatively repackaged as an agent of change by self serving politicians and elected by gullible, intellectually disabled Nigerians who mostly voted out of emotion rather than reason in a less than ideal election in which more than 10 million people never received their voters cards.
Since as is often said, a people get the leaders they deserve, Buhari’s creeping dictatorship and blatant nepotism is the consequence of voting out of emotion rather than reason. There is no greater evidence of Buhari’s creeping dictatorship other than his refusal to appoint ministers and constitute a cabinet 5 months after winning elections and 3 months after being sworn in. During the campaign Buhari and the APC had promised no less when they repeatedly said they would constitute a cabinet immediately and hit the ground running to deliver on their promises of change, but no sooner was Buhari sworn in, his real agenda unfolded as he reneged on the promise of immediately constituting a cabinet leaving even his own party in the dark. It wasn’t until his recent trip that he strangely revealed his intention to name his ministers in September to an American audience faraway from those who voted for him. But even the September date remains suspect as Buhari seems to prefer a one man dictatorship to a regular cabinet. This delay has had the effect of effectively grounding the economy as both local and international investors wait on the policy directions of the new government.
All criticisms by local and international experts in regards to the unusual and unreasonable delay in appointing a cabinet have fallen on deaf ears as Buhari has characteristically donned his dictatorial toga. In seeking to justify the unprecedented delay in appointing a cabinet, all kind of reasons have been advanced by Buhari’s goons but the illogicality of the reasons have further vindicated the suspicion that Buhari intends to run a one man dictatorship for as long as possible. First they claimed Buhari was waiting for the new assembly to be sworn in before naming his ministers, then Buhari requested the clearing of some advisers from the old assembly which was promptly done contradicting the earlier assertion that Buhari was waiting for the new assembly. The question then was why not also send the ministerial list to the old assembly? Willy-nilly the new assembly was eventually sworn in and there was still no ministerial list from Buhari, then the story surfaced that Buhari was cleaning the rot before naming his ministers; but how was he cleaning the rot and why choose to work with permanent secretaries who are the real culprits of corruption in the ministries rather than naming honest ministers to clean the stable?
Before that dubious storyline was exhausted another one surfaced that Buhari hasn’t named his ministers because he hasn’t found honest persons in his party. Not only was this knowingly or unknowingly a direct indictment of his party, it also exposed the hollowness of the excuses as Buhari who claimed he hasn’t found any honest persons to make ministers was busy appointing his kinsmen to head boards and parastatals almost on a daily basis. How then was Buhari able to find the individuals he has been appointing to head boards and parastatals when he hasn’t found any for the ministries or is there no corruption in these organisations? In the end when he does appoint ministers will the men and women he appoints come from another continent or planet? Will it not be the same Nigerians with some sure to be well known dubious characters? It is obvious Buhari has other ulterior motives why he hasn’t appointed ministers other than the laughable lame excuses that has been advanced. Amongst other insidious and sectarian motives, Buhari ultimately desires to be a dictator and that is what has been unfolding in his typically primitive mindset that absurdly presupposes that any leader with a military background has to be a dictator.
Yet such thinking exists only in Nigeria and other third rate countries. Retired generals like Dwight D. Eisenhower and Charles De Gaulle amongst others have been elected presidents in America, France and elsewhere but that didn’t predispose them to dictatorship or unconstitutionality. If anything, the strict military doctrines and constitution that is followed without question, should better prepare a leader to likewise absolutely respect his country’s constitution and not the reverse. In opting for dictatorship in a democracy Buhari is demonstrating the same negative traits that have consigned Nigeria and much of Africa to failure and the periphery of humanity. This same negative trait is evident in the obnoxious nepotism that has been the most defining hallmark of his administration so far as 90 percent of appointments made have gone to his kinsmen while totally excluding some sections of the country. A very dangerous gambit that will do the country no good in the short and long term.
For an already very disharmonious country with widening sectarian cleavages and groups like Boko Haram engaged in a murderous battle for self determination (seeking to create an Islamic caliphate), while Radio Biafra, MASSOB, MEND, the Lower Niger Congress and others are likewise campaigning for an independent state, Buhari’s resort to banal nepotism is like setting fire to a petrol drenched forest. It is a grave misreading of Nigeria’s challenges and needs at this point in time with consequences that might consume the nation itself. Research has shown that the absence of justice and equality is the most important reason for which all colonised states including Nigeria struggled for, or fought for independence and for which most disintegrated nations faced the internal convulsions that led to their demise. If we fought for independence on the basis that we were denied justice and equality by the colonial masters there is no reason why the same injustices and more should be tolerated by what constitutes re-colonialism by Buhari and his group.
Man is by nature born free and equal with certain inalienable rights amongst which justice and equality are fundamental. Any progressive association must respect these fundamentals to thrive and to the extent that Nigeria is an association of diverse nations, justice and equality remains an indispensable and essential requirement for the sustenance of the chequered and still very fragile union. Nepotism in any form is thus unacceptable more so in this day and age. Buhari should look at his calendar and realise that this is 2015 not 1915. It is either he recalibrates or continues his perfidious journey and face the inevitable storm that would finally spell doom and thankfully so, for this land of nightmares and scorching injustice that people like him have so much come to represent.
TEHRAN, IRAN – AUGUST 23: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is seen during a joint press conference with British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond (not seen) at Foreign Ministry in Tehran, Iran on August 23, 2015. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Javad Zarif said the U.S. needed to first change its “illogical attitude”
Iran’s Foreign Minister saidSunday that it was premature to consider the reopening of a U.S. embassy in the country.
Javad Zarif’s remarks come as Britain restored its diplomatic presence in the country, four years after protesters stormed the U.K. embassy, triggering a breakdown in relations.
Speaking at a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in Tehran, Zarif said the time was not right for Washington to follow suit, reports Reuters.
“It seems that there needs to be a change in that kind of attitude and behavior on the part of the U.S.,” he said. “So the situation is different with the U.S.”
America’s relations with Iran broke down in 1979 after a group of Iranian students, who supported the Islamic Revolution in the wake of the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, sacked the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
Angered by Washington’s support of the ousted Shah and his admittance to the U.S. for medical treatment, the students took over the compound, taking 52 hostages. The ensuing hostage crisis lasted 444 days.
Change which we all saw as being imminent before the last general election as was crusaded by President Muhammadu Buhari, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki and others has been made realistic by some of its agents serving at federal and state levels. The entire constituents of Ilorin Northwest (Ajikobi/Alanamu) State Constituency of Kwara State which is the constituency of the Senate President of Nigeria and leader of Kwara APC, Sen. Bukola Saraki, covering seven wards viz; Ajikobi, Alanamu, Oju-Ekun/Zarumi, Ubandawaki, Adewole, Ogidi and Oloje wards of the state, stand to feel an effectual representation and good governance through their present representative at the State House of Assembly, Hon. Abdulrahman Abdulrafiu popularly called ‘Leader or AA’. Hon. Abdulrahman has legislative experience as a fourth republic councilor from Oju-Ekun Zarumi ward and Majority leader of Ilorin West Local Government. That was the origin of his nickname ‘Leader’. The constituency has indeed suffered from true representation in the hand of the immediate past occupant of the seat, who was described far and wide by constituents as ‘a man with no legislative impacts, humanitarian strides and constituency projects’. In the last four years, the atmosphere of the constituency was as good as having a ghost as its representative at the State House of Assembly.
However, capability is truly at its climax in the choice of this present lawmaker who is widely described as an epitome of humility, an icon of brilliancy and a symbol of service to humanity by political and apolitical classes in the state. This is owing to the efficacies of some of his earlier people’s oriented legislative motions on the floor of the house and constituents’ based programmes which are unarguably towards bettering the lives of his constituents and Kwarans in general.
It is worth noting that in the earlier plenary of the 8th Kwara House of Assembly, it was this visionary parliamentarian who fearlessly moved a motion for the relocation of Oke-Kura and other Prisons from urban to rural communities. Removal of military roadblocks as being effected at Oke-Kura prison and some other military zones in the state which adversely pose pains and hitches on the lives of the citizens as well as their business activities was also encompassed in that pro-people motion. For toeing the lines of our leader and Nigeria Senate President on legislative duties which always tend to alleviate people off sufferings and himself being fondly addressed as ‘leader’, then is eulogistically coin for him and Senator Saraki, ‘like leader like his leader’.
Besides his many quality legislative duties within the two month aged assembly, he has begun with some of human capacity development strides that are potent towards the empowerment and employment of teeming jobless youths among his constituents. These include his newly commissioned Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre set up at his Liason Office located at No. 91, Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Kwara Agenda Building, beside Society Generarale Bank Ilorin, which offers internet and computer services like printing, spiral binding, photocopying etcetera for his constituents at “No Cost”. That would therefore ease the poor constituents who cannot afford exorbitant costs of online job applications, admission registrations, Computer Based Test (CBT) trainings, Project Report typing and printing among others. Constituents are however expected to present at the centre, their citizenship certificates as a proof of their eligibility as constituents. This free internet and ICT services surely are available on 12 hours basis (morning till evening) as standby generating set is provided. Another proactive initiative which is certainly efficacious and well-timed is the ‘3 months computer training programme’ he designed to be hosted by all the seven wards one after another. He made it known to us that a conducive place for tutoring and practices will be located in a ward where all interested persons in the ward will be made to be computer literate and certified in three months, after which, it will be another ward’s turn. By my own accurate calculation, it takes less than two years for the training to circulate all the seven wards. This is because the actual number of months for seven wards to enjoy a 3 months programme consecutively is twenty one (21 months), which is less than two years. Other salient initiatives disclosed as components of his agenda and electioneering vows are; execution of constituency projects centered public interest, scholarship and educational aids, timely responsiveness and responsibility on unforeseen situations, agricultural support programmes, community health enhancements, facilitation of needed projects, apt empowerment programmes for widows, orphans, aged people, youths and destitute constituents among others. The man called leader has with the aforementioned agenda, justified his backers, who were in their thousands for the position before he was finally nominated by the Kwara APC under the leadership of Distinguished Senator Bukola Saraki . His commencement of office with transparency and openness of dealings is definitely of a shared ideology with Sen. Saraki who is the topmost parliamentarian in Nigeria today with regard to his #OpenNASS quest.
Conclusively, Hon. Abdulrahman was one of the candidates in the last general polls whose triumph was surer not only because his opponent was not politically grounded but because of his past goodwills and productive relationship with people irrespective of political doctrines and affiliations. In actual fact, many members and fans of Kwara PDP voted for him as against their party’s candidate. This is because goodness begets goodness. In the last note, the end they say justifies the means. Meanwhile, the means through which he clinched the ticket and won were quite uncomplicated and the beautiful start of his duties – excellent representation and performance are pointing to justifiable conclusion come 2019. I, in an Oliver Twist spirit, solicit for constancy in the disclosed programmes and more of them from him and other leaders to the electorates. The note to which we snoop in Nigeria today, sounds that excellent performance is a must. That is, there is no excuse for performance. Of course, there is a high level of political enlightenment, where electorates now know what is accruing for governance and what is called good governance. So excellent performance determines the future political prosperities of leaders in this current world. Nigerians are now ready to challenge physically, any leader who wants to continue living in the past of mismanagement of public funds and bad governance. God’s guidance and wisdom, are all i seek for Him, our Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, our leader, Distinguished Senator Bukola Saraki and other leaders to lead us alright.
The Kwara State Government has stated that the N5b Federal Government bailout loan is the cheapest and most efficient means of paying accumulated arrears of salaries and allowances owed to primary school teachers and other local government employees. The loan also covers arrears of pensions and gratuities owed to retired local government workers, some of which go back several years.
In a statement, the State Government said that N5b loan, when received, will bring relief to local councils, their staff and retirees as federal allocations are currently inadequate to meet salary, pension and gratuity obligations at state and local government levels.
A breakdown of the N5b liability shows that as at July 2015, the total salary arrears for Local Government workers was N2, 012, 999, 522.40, while salary arrears for primary school teachers stood at N2, 143, 414, 338.55. Total LG Pension arrears stood at N523, 160, 259.38 while arrears for LG’s Statutory Contribution to Kwara State University (KWASU) is N70, 464, 259.89 Outstanding payments for sundry services was put at N267, 806, 538.40.
Providing further clarification, the state government said it is clear from the figures that the N3.6b combined June and July allocation to the 16 local government councils was inadequate to meet current and outstanding salary and pension arrears not to talk of development projects.
The State Government therefore expressed confidence that the N5b loan bailout will clear all outstanding arrears and provide the local government councils with affordable repayments so that they will continue to meet future salary, pension and project obligations.
The statement also reiterated that the State Government does not interfere with local government council funds as all due allocations are released after statutory deductions for teachers’ salaries, pensions and gratuities, teaching service allowance, statutory contributions to KWASU, training, and sundry support services. It also stressed that bank charges and loan repayments are deducted at source by banks.
The State Government therefore commended the House of Assembly for its speedy approval of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed’s request to convert the N5b arrears into a Federal Government bailout loan and expressed the optimism that the intervention will make salary and pension arrears at Local Councils an issue of the past. It said the government’s renewed IGR drive will augment any future shortfalls in allocations from the Federal Government and therefore solicited the support of all citizens and residents of the state to initiative’s success.
Lawyers under the aegis of Nigerian Young Lawyers Initiative for Peace and Justice have called on the Inspector General of Police to reopen the investigation into the killing of former Vice – Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) South – South, Chief Alfred Dikibo which occurred in 2004.
The lawyers in a strong worded petition dated 18th August, 2015 addressed to the Inspector General of Police and made available to our correspondent, wondered why the panel 8 inquiry set by the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo since 2004 was yet to come out with a public statement identifying the perpetrators of the killing.
The petition signed by the Coordinator of the group, Edward Omaga and Barr. Samson Esekhaigbe, its Secretary General, said accused the police of complicity in the matter while wondering why there was not a presence of Policemen on the road where the assassination was carried out even as there was supposed to be heavy traffic of top government functionaries plying the route to the meeting which was aborted due to the death of Dikibo.
Speaking further the group stated that the probe panel had already established that the killing was politically motivated while accusing Dr. Cairo Ojougboh as being responsible for the murder, judging from the manner he hurriedly took over Dikibo’s position in the PDP.
The lawyers expressed their expectation that after eleven years down the Nigerian Police should have published the findings of their investigation in the media to clear doubts as to the culpability or not of Dr. Ojougboh in the case. Thus it has also accused the police of incompetence as it is saddled with the primary responsibility of protecting the lives and properties of all citizens of the country.
Meanwhile the group has maintained that until the murder of Dikibo is solved and those responsible brought to book, it will be the conviction in many quarters that Nigeria is a lawless state where any crime can be committed without consequences. They thereby issued the police an ultimatum of forty eight hours to publish the findings of the investigation or face legal actions.
” We maintain that the inordinate delay on the part of the Nigerian Police Force to make public their final investigation report as it concerns the assassination of Chief Dikibo is an attempt at shielding Dr. Dr. Ojougboh”. The letter read in part.
Having failed to achieve any success after months of unsubstantiated figures and wild allegations against Dr Okonjo-Iweala, the political and corrupt vested interests who have been attacking her have now turned their evil attention on her family.
The false story, “Former Finance Minister Okonjo-Iweala’s Family to open multi-million Dollar Hospital in Abuja” published by the corrupt website, Sahara Reporters is the latest chapter in the anti-Okonjo-Iweala campaign.
The story is totally baseless for a very simple reason: The alleged hospital is non-existent.
Anyone who is in doubt can go to Gwarinpa, Abuja where the hospital is allegedly located or enquire from General Electric and Perkins + Will Global, the two organisations that were mentioned as Consultants to the project in the report as to whether the hospital has been built.
The real facts are as follows:
Dr Ikemba Iweala, the husband of Dr Okonjo-Iweala is a recently retired neuro-surgeon and emergency physician with over 40 years’ of practice in Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Three of their four children are US trained medical doctors, including Uchechi Iweala who was mentioned in the story. Uchechi has an MD and MBA from Harvard.
To actualize his desire to give back to the country, Dr Ikemba Iweala for the past few years has been working on establishing a hospital in the Federal Capital Territory. He has used his savings to develop the concept and design of the hospital. So far efforts to source financing for the project are ongoing.
It is the prototype design and website of the yet to be realized project that Sahara Reporters, doing the bidding of its corrupt pay masters, seeks to turn into a multi-billion dollar evidence of corruption.
Why is Dr Okonjo-Iweala the object of this ceaseless campaign of falsehoods and distortions? The answer is simple: because she refused to steal and share and because she blocked many powerful people, some of whom are now in power, from stealing. That is why they would go to any lengths to tarnish her name.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala has a clean record of two terms in office. As we have consistently maintained, she is not afraid of a transparent investigation of her two terms in office. She supports the anti-corruption drive in Nigeria. No one who has had the privilege of serving his or her country should feel too big to be investigated. It is this very issue of fighting corruption that brought her back in the first place and she has a track record of blocking corruption. It is ironic that it is those same corrupt people who are trying to tarnish her image using corrupt media like Saharareporters.
People should recall that it was her fight against subsidy scammers that led to her mother being kidnapped in 2012 with the demand by the scammers that she should resign and leave the country.
Nigerians should prepare for more attacks because these people are desperate and drunk with power. But they will keep failing because the truth will ultimately prevail.
Incidentally, the hospital idea is still very much alive and anyone who is interested should please come forward to discuss possible investment. But there is a condition: the money must be clean. Corrupt people, especially lying governors, need not apply.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that it has every reason to celebrate big its existence as a political party because of it numerous achievements within just two years.
The party has now chosen August 2015 to roll-out the drums for its second anniversary of its registration.
The APC National Organising Secretary and the chairman of the anniversary committee, Senator Osita Izunaso, told journalists Abuja in an interview that it is unprecedented that within two years of APC registration as a party, it has 22 governors, controlling the two chambers of the National Assembly and also have President Muhammadu Buhari as the number one citizen of Nigeria.
According to him, it is true the APC wants to celebrate its second year anniversary but it will not be only celebration, “we also want to use the avenue for internal soul search to let ourselves know that the task ahead is more than the one behind.”
He said: “it’s already two years by the 31st of July this year, the APC was registered by INEC July 31st 2013, last year when we wanted to celebrate our one year anniversary, we got tied up with preparations towards registration of our membership, towards conducting congresses for our members across the federation, national convention as well as the party primaries for the 2015 general elections which we won by the grace of God.
“It is unprecedented that within two years of being registered as a party, we have won the general elections, it is unprecedented that within two years of being registered as a party, we have twenty two (22) governors elected under the platform of the party, it is also unprecedented that within two years of our registration, we are controlling the two chambers of the National Assembly, these are the things we considered as giant stride achievements that begged for call to celebrate our great party on its second year as a political party.
“The event to celebrate our party at two will hold by the end of this month (August) here in Abuja and we are getting world class resource persons to speak to us on the role of a political party on emerging government and to as well talk about our change mantra, what to do to effect the change. We shall hear talks on the change our party is championing, is it change of altitude or otherwise, this are the aspects we will be looking at.
“We have secured the date and the guest speakers are fine tuning ahead of it, I can say authoritatively that one of the guest speakers will be Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Nigeria’s permanent representatives to the United Nations. We are also finalising the arrangements to get speakers outside the country.” He revealed
The governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano has rallied his fellow governors in the South East and Delta States to a ground-breaking Security Conference that will rid the South East and Delta region of all crimes and criminalities that have stunted economic growth for decades in the region.
Delivering a Welcome Address at the Conference which was attended by the governors of Abia, Enugu and Delta with a representative of the governor of Ebonyi State, Governor Obiano described the conference as “finest hour” and the “turning point” in the march of the people of the region to greatness.
Describing Security as the panacea for rapid economic growth and development, governor Obiano observed that mankind’s greatest worry has always been how to ensure a safe and secure world.
Said he: “Our world has never been an easy place to live in. Speaking about mankind’s never-ending struggle for a better world, the great French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the author of The Social Contract, observed in 1762 that “man is born free, and everywhere, he is in chains.” Ladies and gentlemen, man is in a different kind of chain today,” he pointed out and further observed that despite giant leap mankind has achieved with the many wonders of science, “man remains the sole architect of his own fears.”
Reflecting on the peculiarities of the region, Governor Obiano bemoaned the fact that years of persistent assaults on the cities and communities in the South East and Delta States had driven investors away and stifled economic growth in the region.
“We have assembled here today to interrogate our circumstances; to ask ourselves hard questions and to set for ourselves a common agenda. The pertinent question we must ask ourselves is how long? How long shall the South East and Delta State and other contiguous states bear the brunt of brazen criminality and meaningless brigandage? How long shall our people’s well known enterprising spirit be driven away to nourish distant lands while our homeland wallows in squalor?” he queried, calling for a joint effort to stamp out violent crime in the region.
He recalled that there was a time Anambra State experienced waves of gang rules in the commercial city of Onitsha that were so dominant that constituted authorities felt helpless under their brutal onslaught. “The story is very much the same across the states in the region and Delta State. It may vary in degrees from one state to another but this region has had a most troubling crime history for far too long. The time has come to wipe this dark history away!” he maintained.
The governor further opined that his administration had tried to answer some of the rhetorical questions on crime in the state by wiping out kidnappers and violent criminals that once held the state hostage and opened doors for investors.
Said he: “We have freed our social and economic space for businesses to thrive along with leisure. All around Anambra, there is a new sense of freedom among our people. But our freedom cannot be complete until our neighbours begin to experience a new atmosphere of liberty. Recent experience has shown that a security threat in one location is a security threat to the surrounding regions. So, our freedom over crime will remain incomplete, so long as the armed robbers and kidnappers we drive away from Anambra State can find safety anywhere in this region,” he reasoned.
Linking security to economic development, governor Obiano argued that the five South Eastern and Delta States must fight the war against insecurity together and rip the economic benefits together. “We cannot afford the consequences of a prolonged failure in this regard in an emerging Nigeria with clearly demarcated regional economic blocks.
Calling for the emergence of a regional economic block in the South East and Delta States, governor Obiano observed that “the shrinking of spaces for migrant people across the country calls for a robust economic and social agenda that will make our people less vulnerable to increasing hostilities around the world. There is a strident call by History on every leader from this region which we cannot ignore.”
According to him therefore, “Posterity looks onto us to build a befitting economy for the South East and Delta States. And for us to even contemplate anything of that magnitude, we must first find a lasting solution to insecurity in the region. This all important Conference is therefore an economic call to arms. We must all rise to wage a successful war on insecurity as a precursor to economic prosperity and greater fulfilment.”
In their separate remarks, the governor Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and his Enugu State counterpart, Ifanyi Ugwuanyi both identified insecurity created by crime and criminality as the greatest threat to the prosperity of the region. They both were unanimous in their commendation for governor Obiano’s successful war against criminals in the state assuring that they were willing to go the extra mile to combat crime in their home states.
Also speaking, the governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa and his Ebonyi State counterpart, Engr. Dave Umahi described the move for a regional effort against insecurity as crucial to the survival of the region.
The event was attended by top security officers in the country including the Inspector General of Police who was also the chairman of the colloquium.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has commenced investigation on the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, for alleged inciteful speech and
threat to sink into the lagoon, the Igbo residing in Lagos State if they failed to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the April 112015 governorship election in the state.
Son of the late former Governor of old Anambra state, Dr. Josef
Umunnakwe Onoh had petitioned the ICC over the alleged Oba’s
threat and asked the world jury to investigate the threat and bring
the monarch to justice for conceiving to annihilate the Igbo race over
election matters.
ICC had earlier in the year acknowledged receipt of Onoh’s petition and promised to give
consideration to his request.
In a second
correspondence to Onoh with reference number OTP-CR-140/15, dated August 13 2015, ICC’s Head of the Information & Evidence unit in the office of the prosecutor, M.P. Dillion, said they were analyzing the situation identified in his petition with the assistance of other related communications and other available
information.
Part of the ICC’s latest letter to Onoh reads: “Under article 53 of the
Rome statute, the prosecutor must consider whether there is a
reasonable basis to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the
court have been committed, the gravity of the crimes, whether national systems are investigating and prosecuting the relevant crimes, and the
interests of justice.”
The Oba of Lagos, had threatened to throw the Igbo into Lagos lagoon if they failed to vote for the Governorship candidate of the APC, Akinwumi Ambode, which Onoh responded by swearing to present Oba Akiolu’s inciteful speech before the ICC and subsequently made real his vow through a petition dated April 21, 2015.
Acknowledging receipt of the petition, the ICC Head of Information and
Evidence Unit, office of the prosecutor, M.P. Dillon said:”This
communication has been duly entered in the communications register of the office.”
Onoh petitioned the ICC saying he believes that Oba Akiolu’s threat
amounted to a call for violence to be perpetrated against the Igbo in Lagos in the event that the APC governorship candidate looses the
election, which he noted violates Article 20 of the International
convention and elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.
“Had the threat been made by any lesser person we would have dismissed same as an idle threat, but coming from the Oba of Lagos himself, it was a call to arms and an incitement to violence against the Igbos,” Onoh
petitioned.
It will be recalled that it was a similar incitement speech by the Zulu king that caused the recent xenophobia rampage in South Africa.
